The Lunar Eclispe and Stellar Landscape....
The Eclipse last night was lovely. My heart goes out to all those whose cloud cover prevented them from seeing it. Up here in the mountains we had a wonderful view. This one is nice because I caught Regulus, the star in the upper right, part of the constellation of Leo, and Saturn, you know, the planet with rings, is the mote of light in the lower left.
It started snowing yesterday morning and continued, solidly, all day. By nightfall we had a good 4-6 inches on the ground. One of the oddities of living where we do, is that we are up against the shoulders of what is known as the Allegany Front, on the side of Big Savage Mountain, about 1,400 ft above sea level, is that we receive different weather even than Cumberland, MD, our nearest large town. The big fronts roll over the mountain and dump on us. Sometimes we get several inches of snow, and when we drive down to Cumberland, there is hardly a dusting.
So the snow came, and then the clouds cleared, mostly. Rolling dregs and scattered shreds of vapor only added to the beauty. Here is a little video I did, catching the beginning edge of the Eclipse. There is small dog barking in the distance, and the rushing sound is our creek and waterfalls which run all winter and spring.
I did some research beforehand as I have been trying to get a good lunar picture with my camera. It turns out that you need to do the opposite from how you normally take a night picture. That is, the full moon is so bright, you set your shutter speed really fast, instead of leaving it open. So these were at 1/1000 of a second and a few out of the couple of dozen I took came out ok. This is one of my favorites, bits of the edge nibble away, swallowed by the dragon. The Mares (Lunar "Seas", or lava fields) came out nicely. A bit of lunar geography for you all, that clean edge round one at the top is Mare Crisium. But the bulgy one just below it, that is the famous Mare Tranquillitatis. As in "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed", site of the first lunar landing by Apollo 11.
I think I can't wait to get a really good camera and a telescope with a camera mount. We are all a little bit stellar nuts around here. Me more so than the rest of the Wildwose clan. Mrs. Wildwose laughed at me because I went out on our upper deck in a coat but only wearing slippers. I was so into taking pictures and absorbing the views, that didn't notice the below zero temperature until in soaked through my slippers. Brrrrrr......
Here is my best one, taken during totality with that amazing red glow to it. Outstanding eclipse and the next one will be in 2010, so I think I will cherish this one for a while.
It's nice to know we are passing it on to our next generation as well. Jared is taking an astronomy course and we get a kick out of learning along with him sometimes. And little Ellawyn is fast becoming a star buff. I explained the eclipse to her, and showed her a video on Space.com. Which, by the way is the hands down best site for the armchair astronomer in us all. She seemed very interested, but as she is only four, we assumed she might catch the leading edge and then need to get to bed. As it was, she stayed up well past her bed time, enthralled. We have a great view from the door to our upper deck. Her mother and her camped out and watched it through the glass. At one point, her mom said, "Aren't you ready to get to bed?", Ellawyn replied, "No, I want to see it go Red! Stay here with me mom!". So they did. Watching up till totality at 10:15 PM or so. Very late for a little girl. The next morning, Ellawyn pronounced it a "very special night!". Here are the two of them watching.
I wanted to make sure I shared our favorite astronomy and star gazing computer program. It is Stellarium, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Seriously. Go Down Load It! It is a free, open source, professional quality planetarium viewer. I have learned more, faster, with Stellarium open on my laptop next to me, while outside stargazing, than I did in a lifetime of books and charts. I love it. And if gushing about it effusively doesn't get you to give it a look, here is a screen shot.
That is the program screen. The tree line is a function that lets you put the star patterns in relation to your location. Gives you some perspective. Ellawyn loves it to, as it has a very good "draw constellations" mode that allows us to add the line drawings and art overlays separately. She was recognizing some constellations the other night, so I think it is working. And, of course, one of her favorite parts of the eclipse was that the moon was in the constellation of Leo. Her birthday is August 22nd.
Carl Sagan, one of the most influential people in my life, once said, "We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself." and "It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience." I believe both of those deeply. And the second one, I can say that one of the greatest influence on my personal character and relationship to the world is summed up in that. I feel that I am a MUCH better human, not just smarter, but better morally and socially, from my passion for stargazing. And I don't even own a telescope. So at the risk of repeating a recent post, I must insert here, a YouTube video of Carl Sagan reflecting on our "Pale Blue Dot". In case you didn't take the time the when I recently put this up, please do so now. You will be better for it.
So a delightful time and my only real regret is that now that I know how to take moon shots with my camera, the clouds are back tonight, along with several more inches of snow, and I can't take a dozen more of the full moon. Oh well. Another time. I will leave you with another favorite picture from the night. This one is not celestial. It's my yard and stone field from the upper deck. I left the shutter open for 5 seconds and then pushed it hard in a digital editor. So it came out odd, but I think it is beautiful. A somewhat painterly effect, like an old Dutch Master oil with years of varnish.
It started snowing yesterday morning and continued, solidly, all day. By nightfall we had a good 4-6 inches on the ground. One of the oddities of living where we do, is that we are up against the shoulders of what is known as the Allegany Front, on the side of Big Savage Mountain, about 1,400 ft above sea level, is that we receive different weather even than Cumberland, MD, our nearest large town. The big fronts roll over the mountain and dump on us. Sometimes we get several inches of snow, and when we drive down to Cumberland, there is hardly a dusting.
So the snow came, and then the clouds cleared, mostly. Rolling dregs and scattered shreds of vapor only added to the beauty. Here is a little video I did, catching the beginning edge of the Eclipse. There is small dog barking in the distance, and the rushing sound is our creek and waterfalls which run all winter and spring.
Click to viewI did some research beforehand as I have been trying to get a good lunar picture with my camera. It turns out that you need to do the opposite from how you normally take a night picture. That is, the full moon is so bright, you set your shutter speed really fast, instead of leaving it open. So these were at 1/1000 of a second and a few out of the couple of dozen I took came out ok. This is one of my favorites, bits of the edge nibble away, swallowed by the dragon. The Mares (Lunar "Seas", or lava fields) came out nicely. A bit of lunar geography for you all, that clean edge round one at the top is Mare Crisium. But the bulgy one just below it, that is the famous Mare Tranquillitatis. As in "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed", site of the first lunar landing by Apollo 11.
I think I can't wait to get a really good camera and a telescope with a camera mount. We are all a little bit stellar nuts around here. Me more so than the rest of the Wildwose clan. Mrs. Wildwose laughed at me because I went out on our upper deck in a coat but only wearing slippers. I was so into taking pictures and absorbing the views, that didn't notice the below zero temperature until in soaked through my slippers. Brrrrrr......
Here is my best one, taken during totality with that amazing red glow to it. Outstanding eclipse and the next one will be in 2010, so I think I will cherish this one for a while.
It's nice to know we are passing it on to our next generation as well. Jared is taking an astronomy course and we get a kick out of learning along with him sometimes. And little Ellawyn is fast becoming a star buff. I explained the eclipse to her, and showed her a video on Space.com. Which, by the way is the hands down best site for the armchair astronomer in us all. She seemed very interested, but as she is only four, we assumed she might catch the leading edge and then need to get to bed. As it was, she stayed up well past her bed time, enthralled. We have a great view from the door to our upper deck. Her mother and her camped out and watched it through the glass. At one point, her mom said, "Aren't you ready to get to bed?", Ellawyn replied, "No, I want to see it go Red! Stay here with me mom!". So they did. Watching up till totality at 10:15 PM or so. Very late for a little girl. The next morning, Ellawyn pronounced it a "very special night!". Here are the two of them watching.
I wanted to make sure I shared our favorite astronomy and star gazing computer program. It is Stellarium, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Seriously. Go Down Load It! It is a free, open source, professional quality planetarium viewer. I have learned more, faster, with Stellarium open on my laptop next to me, while outside stargazing, than I did in a lifetime of books and charts. I love it. And if gushing about it effusively doesn't get you to give it a look, here is a screen shot.
That is the program screen. The tree line is a function that lets you put the star patterns in relation to your location. Gives you some perspective. Ellawyn loves it to, as it has a very good "draw constellations" mode that allows us to add the line drawings and art overlays separately. She was recognizing some constellations the other night, so I think it is working. And, of course, one of her favorite parts of the eclipse was that the moon was in the constellation of Leo. Her birthday is August 22nd.
Carl Sagan, one of the most influential people in my life, once said, "We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself." and "It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience." I believe both of those deeply. And the second one, I can say that one of the greatest influence on my personal character and relationship to the world is summed up in that. I feel that I am a MUCH better human, not just smarter, but better morally and socially, from my passion for stargazing. And I don't even own a telescope. So at the risk of repeating a recent post, I must insert here, a YouTube video of Carl Sagan reflecting on our "Pale Blue Dot". In case you didn't take the time the when I recently put this up, please do so now. You will be better for it.
So a delightful time and my only real regret is that now that I know how to take moon shots with my camera, the clouds are back tonight, along with several more inches of snow, and I can't take a dozen more of the full moon. Oh well. Another time. I will leave you with another favorite picture from the night. This one is not celestial. It's my yard and stone field from the upper deck. I left the shutter open for 5 seconds and then pushed it hard in a digital editor. So it came out odd, but I think it is beautiful. A somewhat painterly effect, like an old Dutch Master oil with years of varnish.